In many parts of the world, people are spending increasing amounts of time driving in automobiles. At the same time, technology is becoming available to allow a driver to perform an ever increasing number of functions in addition to driving the automobile. For example, in addition to listening to the radio, searching for a radio station, inserting a compact disc into a compact disc player, or adjusting a temperature control unit, a driver may dial a telephone number and talk on the telephone, all while operating the vehicle. The combined effect of increased time in the automobile, especially for repetitive trips like commuting to work, and the proliferation of distractions such as the car telephone, is to make a driver increasingly less alert to change conditions inside and outside the automobile that constitute hazards.
Some devices currently exist to aid an operator of a vehicle in becoming aware of potential hazards. For example, the airline industry uses collision avoidance radar to detect potential collisions between an aircraft and another object. It is also possible to use a radio direction finder to detect objects in the possible path of a vehicle. Existing automobile hazard detection systems, however, are of limited intelligence. In particular, they detect a limited group of hazards and provide a limited group of responses, for example, manipulating a car's braking system in response to detecting skidding, or activating a collision alarm in response to detecting an imminent collision.